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Gremlins in the Workplace, our next entry in RieTales, from Mocha Memoirs Press, is a story of misconceptions, hasty conclusions, and workplace romance.

It was one of several stories I originally started while I was working on the test floor at Motorola about twenty years ago now. I worked the overnight shift running thousands of integrated circuits through a tester I don’t think they even make anymore to see if they were good or not. Sometimes I still dream about working that job…

It wasn’t particularly engaging, so my mind wandered a lot.

Looking into my machine one night, I wondered, “What if there really were Gremlins inside the machinery?” and this story is the result.

In this case, the Gremlins are partners with the operators, making things go smoothly. Until one night when Jhandi–one of the little creatures–goes off the deep end. Even the Gremlin expert at the plant is afraid to talk to him about it. It takes them some time to sort it all out…and when they do, they realize why there is really no room for Gremlins in the workplace.